This was a great race and only has room to grow. The expo was small, but it was nice to meet the pacers and get a free 'tat'. The shirt was well designed, but my wife was disappointed that they had run out of her size, even though we registered early. Starting in front of the State capitol was a nice touch. Try to get the governor to shoot the starting gun next time!!! The course was scenic and well supported by staff, volunteers and police. Baton Rouge is much prettier than I expected. I plan to return next year.

It was well organized and plenty of water/powerade stops. Beautiful Course!!!! I have already signed up for 2013!!!

extremely well organized. plenty of parking around the start (i always appreciate a start/finish in the same general vicinity). great bands at the finish festival. traffic controlled even for the slow movers like me (5:50 finish). supportive locals cheering us on and well stocked aid stations.

This was my Boston Qualifier and I got to do it in our Capital City! For a first time event, I thought it was done very well. The course was awesome, safe and fast. I will definately do this one every year if it continues. There were spectators throughout the course which really means a lot to the runners. Great food and beer afterwards. The medal is first class! Thanks for a great race

Overall grade A-
Pro's
Great scenic fast course,
Excellent shirt w/o sponsors! And a medal that also serves as a bottle opener
Marthonpacing.com pace teams really are awesome, way more personal than the up tight pacers of Cliff Bar
Great post race party, please add non-alcholic beer, 2 beers after a marathon and we may be drunk
Great start/finish venue excellent capital bldg worth seeing b4 or after the race

Cons Widen the start area too crowded
I know it was 1st yr however get the neighborhoods out, although the police were all over and providing plenty of traffic control
Don't expand this event too much 1500 marathon 2500 1/2 cap would be great
Put this race down as a MUST!

I can't believe this was the first year for this event. It was amazingly well organized and well run. The shirts are high quality, the finish festival was a blast, the course was beautiful, there were lots of spectators and friendly encouraging police officers directing traffic. It's hard to find much bad to say. The weather is top notch that time of year and I was stuned by how much the community got behind the event and came out to support the runners. Many great volunteers including student groups from LSU and Baton Rouge Police directing traffic. The Facebook page is also great and they do a wonderful job keeping people informed and answering questions quickly. Drop what you are doing and get to this event!!

Usually I would stay away from an inaugural race, preferring to let them work the bugs out. I gave this race a chance and was glad I did. The race directors should be complimented on the excellent job they did organizing this event. This is a great flat course, plenty of enthusiastic volunteers at the water stops, good Louisiana food at the finish, plenty of free parking, nice expo, great shirt, and COLD beer! I would highly recommend this event. A pleasant surprise and overall great experience.

This was the inaugural race, but the organization was excellent. Start area had plenty of porta-potties and easy bag check. Finish and meet-up worked well. Perfect weather too - early January is perfect in Baton Rouge for that Gulf Coast state race.

A really nice flat course, with enthusiastic aid station volunteers and plenty of cheering locals along the way. Baton Rouge PD covered every traffic intersection. Only improvement I can suggest is better signs/warnings of the half/full course split-off points.

Stayed at the Belle of Baton Rouge and they were host hotel with the expo. When I asked, originally no race shuttle was planned, but after a discussion with the manager, they pressed their own bus into service on the Sunday morning. What a way to step up for their guests!

All around a great experience. Check out this race for your Louisiana marathon!

For an inaugural race, LAM was absolutely amazing. Great T-shirt, nice medal, plenty of water stops, nice size. And once the race it done, it's party time. I can honestly say that LA Marathon had one of the best parties I have ever seen after a race. Lots of beer, probably 10 different kinds and yes, you can have as much as you want. Food was amazing, with all the typical Louisiana's favorites like jambalaya and great pulled pork. We had absolutely perfect weather, good bad, and a nice size park to spread out. No complains here at all.

But, a few kinks to work out to make this event absolutely perfect. And some of them are minor...
Goodie bag - contained nothing but the bib, then you got a T-shirt. I realize it's a new event and you need more sponsors, but anything, coupons, samples, etc. would be nice.

Maps - yes, there was an email and all, but it would be nice to have a course map available at the expo.
We stayed at the host hotel - breakfast - you are on your own. They sell croissants, but if you're not a fan (or simply don't want to experiment on the race day) you are out of luck. Also, there were really no other options walking distance to get anything. So... either make it clear that nothing is there or just have a vendor at the start line selling bananas or bagels. Lots of money could have been made had someone thought of it.

Re-joining half marathoners several times - this is something that will be a huge issue if this event grows in size. Half and full start at the same time, which is fine. However, then they split up, and meet again... and split up and meet again, and... Each time you meet up slower group of runners/walkers. This year it was relatively easy to run around them, but...
Sport drink - make the stops consistent - water first, then sport drink or the other way around. Also, not sure if it was the cups or what, but some of them smelled awful, industrial smell. Also, some were very weak and water was very warm.
GU - if you offer only two flavors, stick to bland ones like vanilla.

Finish line - only had water bottles. It should have sport drink at the very least and someone pointing to the party area. A lot of people get rather disoriented when done with the race, so this would be helpful.
Food at the finish line - although phenomenal, it was quickly gone. All the slower marathoners were stuck with rice and beans, if that much. Solution - keep the area for runners only.

That's it. Really loved the race and the comments above are just to make it even better going forward.
One more word of warning - there is hardly anything open in Baton Rouge on Sunday. I would recommend moving the race to Saturday or - opening more businesses that weekend.

For an inaugural event, the organizers did a great job. Nice, scenic, flat course; plenty of aid stations, energetic volunteers. For the most part, there were spectators.cheering on the runners throughout. Nice finish, nice medal, results posted in real time and photos up the next day. Also, the weather in Baton Rouge this time of year is PERFECT for running.

The pacers use an even pace strategy. I prefer SmartPacing which allows a warmup and figures in fatigue in the last few miles and also incorporates terrain so I didn't use the pacers. I would definitely recommend this event as a good winter marathon to run.